It’s amazing to see the people God used in Scripture. What a cast of crazy characters. He chose a murderer in Moses, an adulterer in David, a coward in Peter, and a terrorist in Paul.
A couple observations… First, our fantastic failures are never final. When Moses stepped on the stage and took a risk no one wanted to follow. Someone said if you think you’re a leader and no one follows you’re only going for a walk. Moses went on a really long walk by himself. In one day, he lost everything – home, career, and dream. But, God give him another chance. His place of failure would be the area of future success.
We must be careful in our judgement on those who seem beyond hope. We are quick to categorize and assign people their destiny. But Romans 11:33 says, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” What looks like mistakes become part of the artwork God is creating. Like an ant can’t understand the internet we have no idea what God has in store.
Second, God has a special place in his heart for misfits. We know that because he was one. John 1:11 says, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” His brothers and sisters thought he was crazy (Mark 3:21). Jesus was the wild child. Isaiah 53:3 says of Jesus, “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” Ultimately Jesus knew the rejection of his heavenly father when on the cross he cried, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me.”
Know today that you are not abandoned by God. Jesus was forsaken so we could be forever accepted. In his love God uses the blows of rejection to increase and expand our desire for his presence. Those moments of aloneness become opportunities to connect with God. In that place our great weakness becomes a source of strength. Remember, God still choses the misfits and forgotten to do great things for him.
